4.5?? - struggling with what to rate this one! i LOVED the then and now storylines, the way that modern day technology helped her communicate just melted my heart! it just had something missing for me, but overall wow what a great story and i’m so glad i read it!!!

Kelly Rimmer’s The Things We Cannot Say is my second World War II book set in Poland this year. This book switched between two sections, a modern-day section following Alice and a World War II section following Alina. Alice is a mom, raising two children, Callie and Eddie, and trying to keep her marriage to Wade intact. Eddie is on the autistic spectrum, and Alice tries hard to meet Eddie where he is, advocating for him, and doting on him as a loving mother. While visiting her sick grandmother, ...

The Things We Cannot Say had me crying and I usually don't cry when I read books, no matter how sad. But this story just tore the tears from me, in so many ways. Two time periods are linked together by one woman and the truth she couldn't tell, until her very last days.In 1942, fifteen year old Polish Catholic Alina Dziak is poor, but she has her mother, father, and two doting brothers. The family lives on their small farm and eek out an existence in this place that is home for them. Alina's lov...

One of my 2019 favorites! A can’t miss if you love powerful historical fiction! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Told in two timelines, we hear from Alina Dziak in 1942 just as she gets married in a Russian refugee camp. Her decision to marry will change her life and bury a lie for decades. Young Alina Dziak grows up in Poland falling in love early with her best friend, Tomasz. She is engaged at fifteen, around the same time Nazi solders arrive at the border. Tomasz is away at college in Warsaw, and she waits for...

4.5 starsI am having a hard time coming up with the words to describe the beauty and the heartbreak of this story. When it leaves you practically speechless and continually thinking about the significance of what you just read, that pretty much ‘says’ it all.There are dual narratives within the storyline. One told in the past and one in the present. One a grandmother, the other her granddaughter. The past takes you back to WWII and what the grandmother and her fellow countrymen endured during th...

Five remarkable, epic, tear-jerking stars! The title gives us a clue that something is kept secret in this family. But this poetically written, heartwarming, amazing story is not about the family secrets; it’s about the words we keep inside and it’s about the emotions we hide. It’s about the reconnection of the family by reaching their roots and discovering their ancestors, and an epic, unconditional, never-ending love story defeats the time, death, and war. Our two heroines, Alice and Alina, ar...

5 stars! Kelly Rimmer, you are a writing Queen!I read “Before I Let You Go” last year which was my first book by Kelly Rimmer. I finished that novel overcome with unshakable emotion and a feeling of being forever changed. That storyline and those characters still haunt me to this day. This novel, although a completely different type of storyline, left me feeling the exact same. I was teary during the first page of the Prologue. I felt an intense emotional connection to the characters in the firs...

In The Things We Cannot Say Kelly Rimmer has penned a heartbreakingly powerful and hopeful love story set amidst the backdrop of war, loss and the unimaginable atrocities of WWII. Simply put this is the kind of book that grabs hold of you, envelopes you within it pages and holds on long after you have finished reading. I thoroughly enjoyed the way Rimmer told this story via a dual narrative - effortlessly weaving historical fiction with a modern day story. Alina's story is set amidst the harrow...

It's live! The Things We Cannot Say is available NOW. This is a story I dreamed of writing for years, and I'm so excited to finally share it with you 😊

This beautifully crafted story weaves together the present and the past seamlessly with threads of heartbreak, sacrifice, and love!Two strong women, two unique voices, two different times, one stunning tale! Kelly Rimmer has spun a story Full of survival and love that you won’t soon forget! Miss Rimmer has poured her heart, her hope, and her own personal family history into these pages. No matter how many books I read about WWII I am always deeply impacted by the horror of war and the power of ...